NOBLEMAIRE PRINCIPLE IN THE CONTEXT OF INTERNATIONAL CIVIL SERVICE

Resumo

One aspect of the Law of International Organisations that have not attracted the attention of International Law Scholars is the age long concept of “Noblemaire Principle” of 1921 which was adopted during the years of the League of Nations and is still being used for the determining the salaries of international civil servants. The Principle has been adopted by the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) as a standard for remunerating official of international organizations like the United Nations and its Agencies. This paper therefore intends to examine the relevance of the “Noblemaire Principles” in contemporary global civil services and to see whether it still meets the need of the present time or requires necessary review by the International Civil Service Commission?  This paper will also examine the realities of 1921 with those of present day by relying on the Congressional report from research commissioned by the United States, Government Accountability Office (GAO) in 2013 to see whether the Noblemaire Principles still meets the needs of time having found from reports that the margin between U.N and U.S. civil service salaries has increased over a period of ten years while the Noblemaire Principle which relies and applies the US Civil Service salary scheme in payment of the salaries of UN and other International Staff  is still being considered as normal. Then should the Noblemaire Principle be maintained as the pay-setting yardstick for the UN and other international civil servants considering its antiquated nature?